Conventional email systems typically include a search feature that enables a user to search for a desired email message. When searching for an email message, users often have some knowledge about the desired email message. From this knowledge, users select one or more search terms to build a query. This query is used to select those messages that match the query (i.e. search for messages with “patent”).
However, when a message is part of a set of related messages, some of the related messages may not include one or more of the search terms that match the query. In some cases, the related messages that do not include the search terms are ones desired by the user. In these cases, the user may find one message among the set of related messages, but not necessarily the desired message or all the related messages.
What is needed is an improved search feature that utilizes a threading service in order to provide the user with messages including one or more search terms and one or more related messages, regardless of whether the related messages include the search terms.